Open Curtains
by KellyTyler521
Summary: Incomplete, as will remain the summary... for now... Pre-MX timeline, someone that Adam *didn't* have a hand in creating, lots of fun. (Rating subject to change as well.)
1. Introduction

Warning; First Posting: I've never posted Fan Fiction before, so I just decided to post the first thing I clicked on. Be nice in your reviews, I've never had more than three people read my work and I write longhand for the first copy of all of my stories.  
  
FYI: I own no one and nothing in this story. I'm not even really sure I own my main character, but I made her up, and you can't have her. 


	2. Chapter One

"I realized long ago that there are factions of the government, and a few privately owned companies which act as government factions, which the general public cannot know about at this point in history. The only question in my mind, Monsieur Eckhart, is which are you; government, or faking it?"  
  
"Yes, well, it would seem that neither of those questions apply to you, Ms. Banner."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because we here at Genomex do not repair our mistakes by hiring them."  
  
"I - what? What in the Nine Hells are you talking about?"  
  
"We have encountered people in the past with you abilities, not to mention your reluctance to offer a blood sample."  
  
"Alright, so you've met other needle phobic ex-stunt people before."  
  
"That, however, is not what we believe you to be." He presses a few buttons on a control panel, as I remain standing directly in front of the desk he's sitting at. I have the sudden, bizarre thought that if he pushes the right buttons; the floor is going to go right out from under me. "Naria, send in two security guards, unarmed."  
  
"No need for that, I'll leave quietly."  
  
"I'm afraid not." Eckhart says, as two guards dressed entirely in black appear to either side of me. "Take Ms. Banner down to the med labs and put her in hard restraints."  
  
"Yes sir." One of the guards says, and they rather roughly lead me out of Eckhart's office.  
  
"Do the two of you really think you can contain me alone?" I ask as we walk down a hallway.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I don't." I say, lining myself with orange and blue flames. I know the flames don't hurt, don't even give off heat, but the guards each released the arm they had been holding and stepped back. I spin to my left and kick that guy in the head and, continuing my spin, I swing my fist over into the second guy's gut. The first guy is down for the count, but the second just had the wind knocked out of him, so I turn to run, but feel a sharp sting in the back of my knee. I take off anyway, though a bit slower. I'm running for about fifteen minutes before slamming into some unsuspecting scientist.  
  
"Whoa. What's?" He starts to ask.  
  
"I'm being chased by security." I say breathlessly in my best French, maintaining my character. "Would you like to help me, or"  
  
"This way." He says, in French, pulling me into a room and closing the door behind us. "One of these days I'm going to shut this place down." He mutters in English as he leans against the door.  
  
"Marvelous. When you do, I'll help." I say taking off the straight, dark brown wig I've had on all-day and shaking out my long, wavy, amber-ish hair. I take off my mask, remove my voice changer and contacts, and start to examine the back of my knee.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Depends. Whose side are you on?"  
  
"Not theirs." He says I smile a bit in spite of the dull, throbbing pain in the back of my knee. "I'm a doctor, can I take a look at your leg?"  
  
"Sure. I'm Kelly Tyler, what do I call you, doc?"  
  
"Adam."  
  
"Nice to meet you." I say, exposing the back of my right knee. "Mind telling me what you people are doing here?"  
  
"Originally, we were a genetic research facility, but due to some mistakes, the goals have changed somewhat. What's funny?"  
  
"You sound like a P.R. statement." I say, chuckling a little. "Ow! Hey,"  
  
"If I really sound like a P.R. guy, it's only because I don't really want to be here."  
  
"So why don't you leave?"  
  
"I can't. It's complicated, but ultimately I can't."  
  
"What's stopping you? A piece of paper with a couple signatures and a paycheck?"  
  
"No, nothing like that." He says. "I've done all I can do with this."  
  
"Thanks." I say, flexing my knee a bit. Alarms start going off, Adam jumps, and I simply tense. "So what is it really that's keeping you here?"  
  
"I've made some pretty serious mistakes that effect people's lives in some fairly serious ways, and staying here is the only way I can make reparations."  
  
"Oh, please tell me it's not the equipment that you need."  
  
"Well, yeah. The mainframe especially."  
  
"Oh, my god. The computer is understandable, but really. C'mon, I gotta bust out of here anyway, c'mon, we'll talk on our way out."  
  
"And if I refuse?"  
  
"Then I'll quite regrettably have to give you a black eye and save you some trouble. Keep in mind that there's also secret door number three, but that can be positively humiliating depending on your reputation."  
  
"I wanted out anyway, let's go." He says, after some serious thought.  
  
I look around the room, just now noticing that we're in a storage room with a window. "Do you know if the windows in this place are specifically alarmed?"  
  
"Not to my knowledge."  
  
"Great. You afraid of heights or falling?"  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"Here." I hand him a coil of grappling rope I had been hiding in the hem of my skirt. "We're going out the window, you'll need something and my harness is custom."  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"Oh, please." I scoff, as I tie a knot near one end of the rope. "I've jumped higher."  
  
"Is this going to hold me?" He asks, as I tie the end of the rope with the grappling hook to a piece of exposed pipe connected to a radiator.  
  
"Of course." I say, as I look over at him. "Need some help there, doc?"  
  
"Uh. okay."  
  
"Ms. Adrian Banner. We have you located and surrounded. Exit the supply closet peacefully or we will have no other choice but to take violent action. You have two and a half minutes to decide." I hear Eckhart demand from the other side of the door.  
  
"Damn it." I mutter.  
  
""Adrian Banner"? I thought you said your name was Kelly Tyler." Adam days as I secure the rope around his waist and over one shoulder, making sure the rope wouldn't tighten by clipping the steel clip into the knot.  
  
"I'll explain later." I say, and I gently push Adam further back to give myself some room.  
  
"Yeah, but who are you lying to?"  
  
"Figure it out; who was I wearing the mask for?" I say, as I kick out the glass and the bottom frame of the window. "Hope you have a strong stomach."  
  
"Why's that?" Adam asks, as I shove him to the floor so that he can avoid being shot. A bullet zings by my elbow and I start for the window.  
  
"Come on! Let's not make me throw you!"  
  
"That's a seven story drop!"  
  
"Get your ass out that window, or I won't bother catching you after I toss you off that seven story drop like a bloody football!"  
  
"I'd rather take my chances here!"  
  
"Forget it, you stay here you're either dead or dumb, you don't strike me as either!" I yell over the gunfire. I grab him by the shoulder and drag him towards the window, keeping us both low all the way.  
  
"No no no no no."  
  
"Easy or hard, take your pick. I told you that we were going out the window, and I intend to stick to my plans."  
  
"Yeah, but wait, can't - "  
  
"Hard way." I say, as I push him through the window. I quickly step into the window frame and jump out, doing somersaults in the air as I go. I land and go into a quick back-roll a few seconds before Adam gets within six feet of the ground. I notice that he's still falling head first as I get to my feet. Moving as quickly as I could while maintaining my precision I snag him by one shoulder and the waist and flip him over so that he's head up as I pull him with me into a roll. I come out of the roll on my feet, but he's on his back with a dazed look on his face. "I offered to be nice."  
  
"Yeah." Adam says breathlessly.  
  
"You okay? I mean, I don't expect you to be great, but are you seriously hurt?" I say, crouching over him.  
  
"Yeah, I'm only jokingly hurt." He says sarcastically.  
  
"Dear gods, I've rescued a funny one. Shoot me now." I joke in return, as I help him up. "My car's this way, I drive faster."  
  
"What about mine?"  
  
"Yeah, just what I wanna get away in. A scientist's car. What do you drive?"  
  
"A red Corvette."  
  
"Ooh, so you're that Adam. Right. Got ya covered." I say, taking out a small remote. I flip a switch and hold down a blue button, then I quickly coil the now grapple-less rope. "Let's go. Your car will catch up. I'll explain it all in the car if we aren't being chased."  
  
"What's so spectacular about your car?" Adam grumbles, as we run for my car. I push another button on my remote as a cobalt blue '99 Doge Viper comes into view. My Viper. "Oh."  
  
"Soon as you get in I'll answer any and all questions." I slip into the driver's seat as he jogs around to the passenger's side. 


	3. Chapter Two

"Now, who are you?" Adam asks, slamming the passenger side door.  
  
"I told you. I'm Kelly Tyler. Ask me something new." We buckle our seatbelts and I start the engine.  
  
"What do you do?"  
  
"Many things. Here, I was hired to steal some files. Medical, mostly." I say, as we pull out of the Genomex parking lot.  
  
"So you're a thief."  
  
"Not always. I'm also a member of the Massachusetts and Nevada state bar. I hold medical licenses in California, New York, and Wisconsin. Let's see, I also own four nightclubs and a bar, work with the Las Vegas crime lab, and a Los Angelus private investigation firm." I say, as I notice a cherry red Corvette convertible and two black Kias start to follow me. "Problem with any of that?"  
  
"No, no. How do you travel so much? I mean, most of that runs on a fairly tight schedule."  
  
"Special circumstances." I say, making a sharp left turn that forces him to lean closer to me.  
  
""Okay." Adam says, as a button on my dash lights up and starts flashing.  
  
"Hit that button flashing there for me, please?"  
  
"Bet I'd beat you and your boy." A man's gravelly voice shouts challengingly over a speaker.  
  
"First off; not a boy from my angle. Second; no, you wouldn't beat me driving a scientist's car."  
  
"We'll see about that. Decker's?"  
  
"Sure. Skip the steps and see ya there." I say, shifting gear and shutting off my intercom. "Mind turning on the radio?"  
  
"A thief and a street racer." Adam says to himself, and I raise an eyebrow, giving him a quick glance so that he can see it. "Nice."  
  
"Yeah right. That combo sounds like it kills more innocents in a week than"  
  
"Heroin in two months." He offers.  
  
"Well I don't. I haven't killed anyone in a long while and I intend to keep it that way."  
  
"So you have killed before."  
  
"Yes and no. I haven't killed anything that wasn't already dead in months, but I was talking about normal people a minute ago."  
  
"What? How does that - "  
  
"Might want to stop talking and brace yourself. I'll explain when there's less chance of vomit in my car." I say, as the Decker Parking Center comes into sight. "Finish line." I mutter.  
  
I head right up the first ramp into the parking center and drive up a series of eleven ramps. I never slow as I approach the ramp to the deserted twelfth level, but instead ruin my momentum by spinning out.  
  
"I'm never driving with you again." Adam says, after realizing just how close to the railing we had come to a stop.  
  
"Who says you'll get the opportunity? We lost those black cars, though."  
  
"Do we have to stay in here?"  
  
"No, not at all. Want a Coke or something?"  
  
"Do you have water?"  
  
"Sure." I tell him as we get out of the car, him a little more hastily than I.  
  
"Oh, that's better." He says, leaning on the outside of the car as I get into the cooler in my trunk.  
  
"Hey, at least I'm a professional driver." I say, wringing out a wet washcloth. "Come on, follow the helpful things." He follows me as I take the two bottles of water and the washcloth over to the highest point of the structure. We each take a seat near the edge and I look back towards my car. One door is still open, so I push a button on my key chain as I hand Adam a bottle of water. "Hey, you okay? You look a little flushed."  
  
"Yeah." He says quietly, looking out over the skyline.  
  
"Look, I had a million opportunities to either kill you or let you die, and I didn't take them, not because you're just that cute, but because I don't kill people. So deal with my daring." I say quickly, using sarcasm to make my point.  
  
"Believe it or not, I figured that out. I was just waiting for my hear and stomach to catch up, but I'm glad we've confirmed the fact that you're not going to kill me."  
  
"Oh." Is all I can think to say. I squeeze some more water out of the washcloth and put it on the back of his neck.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Looks like my buddy with your car's going to be a while. Got any more questions?"  
  
"What were you talking about when you said that you don't kill anything that isn't already dead?"  
  
"That's a fairly strange answer, and I don't know that I should tell you. At least, not while you're still planning on going your separate way as soon as you get your car."  
  
"How did you know what I was thinking?"  
  
"That's uh. that's another complex answer. Look, I have my secrets, I'm sure you have yours, but I can't tell you anything until I at least think I can trust you."  
  
"That almost made sense." He says, semi-thoughtfully. "Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?"  
  
"Sure, I'm supposed to be free." I say, as my cell phone starts to vibrate. "Do you have somewhere that I could drop you off?" I ask, checking the text messages I was being sent.  
  
"Well, isn't my car supposed to be here soon?"  
  
"Was. Looks like my buddy with your car has had some trouble, and I've gotta be somewhere pretty much now-ish."  
  
"Where?" Adam asks, his curiosity showing through as he removed the damp washcloth from the back of his neck.  
  
"Dangerous places. You're not coming."  
  
"I jumped out a seventh floor window today, mostly because you told me to. Why can't I join you?"  
  
"First; you didn't jump, I pushed you. Second; you had a rope, it wasn't as if you had no safeties and it was you three hundredth and fifty first jump." I say distractedly, trying to send a text message on my cell. "Damn it."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"My buddy's line is no more." I crack open my bottle of water and take a long gulp as I sit back, close my eyes, and think about my buddy the back- up.  
  
"Genomex caught him?"  
  
"Mm-hm. At a gas station."  
  
"Aren't you going to go after him?"  
  
"Maybe later. His life is not at stake, but several others are. Besides, we have an understanding between each other in case of exactly this kind of situation."  
  
"So you're a telempath."  
  
"Why does everyone always think that? It got me shot this afternoon."  
  
"Tagged." He corrects me hesitantly.  
  
"What?" I ask, my eyes snapping open.  
  
"You weren't shot with a bullet, you were tagged with a tracer."  
  
"Chemical or technological?" I ask, still fairly worried.  
  
"Probably just a chip in the base of the dart."  
  
"Oh. Anyway, where can I drop you?"  
  
"I don't have anywhere Mason won't find me, really."  
  
"And you'd pitch a fit if I dropped you at my secondary apartment, wouldn't you?" I say, talking mostly to myself.  
  
"Well, I don't think I'd p - " Adam mutters quietly in argument.  
  
"Fine. You'll come with me, but I'm locking you in the car." I say, not liking any of it one bit.  
  
"But - "  
  
"It's for your protection. The car is bullet proof. You aren't."  
  
"All right, so I'll stay in the car. Where's your back-up?"  
  
"I'm not taking any."  
  
"How can you not have back-up?"  
  
"Look, back-up would be nice, but at the moment it's all being either interrogated or medicated. Got it?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"You good?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Good. We should go, wouldn't want to be late."  
  
"Are you going to fill me in?"  
  
"No." I say, blank-faced as we get up off of the cement. "Cool it. Of course I'll fill you in, still doesn't mean I have to like it." I say, giving a little chuckle at the big deer-in-the-headlights eyes he had for a second before he began glaring.  
  
"You know, you shouldn't joke like that." He half growls.  
  
""I know, I know. I just couldn't resist such an easy target." I say, unlocking the doors. "Hey,"  
  
"What?" He snaps, and we both get in the car. 


	4. Chapter Three

"I'm sorry." I say softly, as we both close our doors, and I start up the car. "Hey, if I had known you would be this sensitive, I - "  
  
"You know what? Just stop. Drive. It's been a bad day and I'm overreacting."  
  
"Well, it's not going to get any better anytime soon, so you just go ahead and pout, or fume or stew or whatever it is that you scientist guys do, alrigh'."  
  
"How bad is it going to get?"  
  
"For you? Terrible, awful, no good, very bad." I say, deciding to take a different way down. "Vampires are real, forget all you've seen in the movies or read. They can go out in the sunlight, eat real food, drink real drink, mate, and then kill you in their own bed. Crosses, holy water and all of that doesn't physically affect them, and they don't sleep in coffins. Yes, wooden stakes and decapitation kills them, and no, two vampires can't get together and have little baby vampires. Any questions on that front?"  
  
"How is this bad for me especially?"  
  
"Simple; vampires need blood because their own blood can't sustain itself, without drinking fresh blood a newly made vamp dies after two hours. The leader of a coven hired me to steal some research so that they could work out a way to "cure" themselves of the weakness of needing blood, without getting rid of the component that allows them to digest it."  
  
"Geeze, what would they have paid you to bring back a geneticist?" He asks, jokingly.  
  
"Just over double. I'm taking them out anyway."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Figuring out why I didn't want you along?"  
  
"Oh, God, be joking."  
  
"I wish, but just stay in the car and you'll be fine. Don't open the door either."  
  
"Oh God." He whispers.  
  
"Look, have I let anything that horrible happen to you?" I glance and he shakes his head "no". "And I'm not going to. So chill out. You're a grown man with a pistol under his seat."  
  
"A bullet kills a vampire?"  
  
"No, but they hurt like hell." I say, pulling into the driveway of an old house. "Here," I yank the gun from its very secure spot under his seat and hand it to him. "Feel better?"  
  
"Uh, no." Adam says nervously.  
  
"Okay." I take the gun from his lap, put it in the glove compartment, and leave the glove compartment open as I kiss him on the left temple. "How 'bout now?"  
  
"Ahh, yeah."  
  
"Great. Gun's loaded and the safety's off. Anything comes within arm's reach of the car, roll down the window and shoot it. I'm leaving the power for the windows on, going down they're nice and slow, but it only takes a tap to shut them again. Got it?"  
  
"Yeah, go." He says quietly.  
  
"Back soon, if I'm more than an hour, push the big red button." I get out of the car, activate the power locks, and head for the door.  
  
"Whosit?" A male voice says gruffly from the other side of the door.  
  
"Ariella." I say, switching my voice to a silky alto with a Dutch accent to go with my character.  
  
"Oh." The man says, and a second later he opens the door wide for me. "You're late."  
  
"And you're ugly, so that's two things neither of us can do anything about. Lead on." I say, maintaining my false voice and accent. He growls at me, but leads me into the family room of the house anyway.  
  
"Ariella Van Tassel." The vampire announces.  
  
"You're late, I've eaten." A tall, black haired vampire says, rising from a Laz-E-Boy recliner directly across from the door.  
  
"I hope it wasn't that pretty blonde."  
  
"Fat redhead."  
  
"Oh." I say, thoughtfully. "Good." Sincerely glad that bastard child pornographer is dead. I have a little silent party in my head as the vampire laughs. "Let's get to it, then, Brooke."  
  
"Yes, indeed." He smiles, displaying his fang-ish canines and bloodstained tongue openly. "You are dismissed."  
  
"The captives?" I say, after Escort Vamp leaves the room.  
  
"Ah, yes, y our fee. My research?"  
  
"An unfortunate thing with that. It was a complete success." I toss a few mini-disks at him, which he catches.  
  
"I've always loved the scent of a woman."  
  
"Marvelous, my brother had them." He looks at me doubtfully. "A transvestite."  
  
"Hm, well." He says, looking at the disks he had just so vigorously sniffed with obvious distaste. "The geneticist?"  
  
"No such luck. Who knew a three story drop could kill a man?"  
  
"Hmph. Oh well. There are eleven downstairs, you may choose four."  
  
"Fine, but remember to feed door boy. He has become very unpleasant."  
  
"Very well then. Lee!"  
  
"Yes?" Escort Vamp Lee says, coming back into the room.  
  
"Show our dear friend Ariella to the basement so that she may take her fee."  
  
"Yes, sir." Lee says.  
  
"So your name's Lee, and you're ugly on top of that." I muse as he leads me to the basement door. "No wonder you're cranky."  
  
"Take your fee and go, bitch." He opens the door to the basement as I chuckle to myself in victory. I choose the four strongest, most attractive people out of the bunch, and ask for a moment alone with them.  
  
"Names? I do not care if they are real or not." I ask, as soon as we're alone.  
  
"Rayvyn." Says a girl; with black hair, black eyes, and the whitest skin I've ever seen outside of a magazine, in a very smoky alto voice.  
  
"Connor." Says a guy with auburn hair and green eyes, dressed as an L.A. skateboarder. "You left me twin, we're here on fucking vacation."  
  
"No. We haven't left the house yet. Don't assume." I scold.  
  
"I'm Vivian." A woman dressed all in ocean colors with black hair and blue eyes says calmly.  
  
"Hi, I'm Mia." The pretty blonde girl says, being very perky in the face of her possible death.  
  
"Good. Who drives, show of hands?" Connor and Vivian raise their hands; Rayvyn just looks around a little shyly. "Terrific. I only have a small car; so all of you will either have to steal a car or run like hell, take your pick, but get out of here now unless you can help me."  
  
"What are you thinking to do?" Connor asks.  
  
"What can she do? These are vampires there's no killing them, they always come back." Raevyn says her panic driving her almost to tears.  
  
"They are vampires, dear. Not cockroaches. I've fought them before." I tell her, trying to divert her overreaction.  
  
"Then I will help you. I can't steal or lie, but neither can I sit back and watch you fight without repaying you for taking me off the evening menu." Vivian says.  
  
"No, no, I promised me mum that I'd get Carolyn home safely. I can hotwire if need be." Connor says, beginning to pace the room.  
  
"I don't see me being much help to you, but I don't have anything to run to." Mia says, her perkiness refusing to wear off.  
  
"Connor, would you be opposed to taking Raevyn and Mia with you and your sister for a couple of hours at least?" I ask.  
  
"No, if they want to come with me, they can, but I'll not look after them forever." Connor says, his fear entering into his voice.  
  
"All right, then that's what is to be done. Everyone able to accept it?" I say, and get nods of agreement all around. "Good."  
  
"Time's up, Ariella." Lee calls from the top of the stairs.  
  
"Uh, oh. Do not like the sound of that." I mutter to myself. "Vivian, right in back of me, Connor, Mia, and Raevyn, a little further away."  
  
"Brooke? Probl-" I begin. I stop when I see Adam on his knees, with his face bloodied.  
  
"Seems you've been holding out on me, Ariella. Mick found this in your car." Brooke says, as I stare at Adam.  
  
"So?" I ask, shifting my gaze to Brooke.  
  
"He hasn't said a damn word." Brooke says.  
  
"Again; so? You know I have a boy toy." I say, wishing I could just give in and throw a bunch of daggers at him.  
  
"A very well trained boy toy." Lee interjects, and I have to resist wincing as I imagine how he learned that.  
  
"Yes, and with a Genomex identification badge." Brooke says, reaching into Adam's jacket and ripping the breast pocket as he tore free the ID. I risk a glance at Adam and See only one thing that is unexpected in his eyes; hurt. "Kill them all, starting with the boy toy."  
  
"Not bloody likely." I say, dropping my character. 


End file.
